| Take Part in the Painting |
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| Written by Kirsten Schaffer | ||||||||||
| Thursday, 13 May 2010 22:21 | ||||||||||
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Take Part in the Painting Looking for a new way to express yourself? Take a look beyond pottery painting, grab a few girlfriends, and head over to Essex Studios for a memorable and insightful art experience.  It's hard not to be inspired walking into Charlene Taylor's art studio at Essex Studios in Clifton. In her neatly decorated but artfully inspired space, Taylor creates her bright and cheery pieces and displays them on every wall. Her workspace demonstrates years of creativity with paint splashes spread across the counter and unfinished works lining the back wall. But the first thing that stands out are five brightly colored discs on the front right wall that look more like large bottle caps than pieces of plywood. The round discs (about 24 inches in diameter) are called Conscious Creation and Connection Circles, all created by average women in a Creative Connection Circle (C3) workshop. In these five-hour sessions led by Taylor, each participant works on a slice of the disc, called a mandala, in order to create a cohesive work of art. But the mandalas are not simply a wall decoration. Depending on the group of friends  who create them, they represent a multitude of themes. Some of the themes that Taylor has helped her customers create include courage, acceptance, hope, empowerment, creativity, authenticity and gratitude. One mandala represents "acceptance" and was created by a group of women who were HIV positive."They came in, wanting to focus on 'acceptance from others' and from the larger community. But by the time we were done with our discussion, they realized it was really about acceptance of themselves," Taylor says. Taylor uses art to help people find out about who they truly are, the engineer-turned-artist says. "Using art and movement and music and writing, as well as talking -- to say 'Hey! What is my path and what am I passionate about and then how do I get there?" she says. Click the play button below to see how Taylor works with different groups of friends to create beautiful works of art that not only bring energy to a room, but also enrich lives with the unique experience. Taylor has held workshops for friends moving away, birthdays, births of children, family connections, business teams, and friendships. Each session costs $60 for the workshop fee plus $15 for materials per person. For more information, call Taylor at (513) 317-3420 or e-mail her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . PHOTO CREDITS Photo courtesy of Kirsten Schaffer VIDEO CREDITS Videographer: Kirsten Schaffer
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| Last Updated on Monday, 17 May 2010 04:37 | ||||||||||
